Gentle Moon
by Mononoke-hime x sukai kurora
Summary: AU. What were Yuugao's thoughts when she saw her beloved in Naruto Shippuden episodes 307 and 308?


_ Gentle Moon_

When Yuugao witnessed the scene unfolding in front of her, she hadn't thought of seeing Hayate standing before her with the scroll on her back. It felt as if the three years since his death had vanished, and that Yuugao was full of love and hope again. Seeing his face and hearing his voice after three long years had rendered Yuugao speechless and numb. All these years she had wanted him, and yet seeing the very face of the man she loved caused dread to seep in her heart. Yuugao recognized the face crakes and the absence of sclera; Edo Tensei. The justu that she and her comrades had feared had come to life to her eyes at last. But this was the face she had last wanted to see. _Hayate… _The face of her beloved had recognized her just as she recognized him. The flames she didn't see; the dead and wounded she did not see; she only saw Hayate.

Long forgotten memories overwhelmed her before she could control them. Yuugao remembered when they first met. _I was nine years old then, and he was ten. _It was very soon after the Third Shinobi World War. Yuugao's parents had both died during the war, and the child was still struggling from grief. She had been wistfully looking at the clouds when footsteps echoed on the grass. Yuugao had been able to hide beneath the bushes before the person had come. She remembered every moment of that time. Hayate had been a frail and small genin with dark circles under his eyes even as a child. It seemed that the sword he carried on his back would be too heavy for a boy of his size, but Yuugao was proven wrong as she watched Hayate practice with his sword again and again until dusk came. Pools of sweat dripped from his chin, and he had started to gasp and then cough to the point when he dropped his sword and fell onto his knees. Yuugao hadn't thought of how that day had changed her life; she only thought about saving the boy. She remembered of how cold Hayate's hands were as she helped him to his feet. Despite the cold rain pelting down on them, Hayate had smiled and bowed down to her. _"Arigatou gozaimasu." _

Shortly after, her lessons in _kenjustu _began. Hayate didn't want her to stop from training with him, even when at times he collapsed on all fours and rasped and coughed for minutes on end. Asthma had plagued him even since his birth, he had told her one time when she had asked after a training session. He was breathing deeply and wouldn't look at her. _"My dream is to become a shinobi in my own right even as this disease plagues me for the rest of my life. I want to protect those I care for no matter how much it debilitates me, even if it costs my life." _Yuugao's romantic feelings for the shinobi Hayate had started to blossom then, and would realize that many years later. When they were in their mid teens, Hayate had almost sacrificed his life to save her own from an enemy. She remembered of how his crimison blood had dripped onto her face and coated onto her clothes. The tears she had not cried since she was a child had fallen onto Hayate's still face as he had remained unconscious in the hospital. She remembered of how his cold hands had suddenly gripped her during the night, and of how her tears had still fallen. _"Nakanai de, _Yuugao." The kunoichi remembered of how tenderly she had spoken her name. _"We honed our skills together." _They had fallen in love with each other. The night Hayate had died was firmly fixed in her mind. It had been the first time that she was deathly afraid for him when he was on a mission. The emotion seeping from her voice still echoed in her mind. _I truly loved him. _Hayate's bloodied body, slashed in half, had rendered Yuugao numb. She could only stare at her lover when she and her team had found him. She had picked up the fallen sword by his side and her mind had howled with grief as she whispered his name to the wind. When the fighting was done, Hayate's sweet voice remained in her head. He said the same thing to her even as she clutched her trembling hand in her motionless one. Yuugao was sobbing as the voice she would never hear again echoed in her mind. _Don't cry. _Yuugao couldn't fight anymore, she realized. Her love for Hayate had been born through the swords they had practiced with each other from childhood to adulthood, and holding a sword reminded her of how her beloved had died. Even a simple weapon was useless in her arms. _"I can't fight anymore." _That was the truth.

Yuugao hadn't wanted to fight the man she had loved, and yet she was forced to. The pain in her heart had reopened when Hayate told her she had to kill him. Her comrades had been wounded from the agony in her heart, so Yuugao thought it was fitting to find him…and kill him as Hayate had wanted. Yuugao had killed many people in her career as a kunoichi, and hadn't flinched at the sight of blood or the screams of the dying, but this was the hardest possible mission she had undertaken. Or perhaps the civil lain life had softened her. _"But when the fighting ended…my emotions that had been stretched so thin…just snapped. I couldn't even hold a sword anymore. Hayate and I were connected through fencing. Inevitably, a sword reminds me of his death. How can I kill him? How can I go through his death all over again?" _She remembered the very words she had spoken to Haruno Sakura. The sword she carried was heavy in her hands, and she prayed that she wouldn't have to kill her beloved with the sword clenched firmly in the hands that had already drenched so much blood. _I will never hold a sword again._

And so she had to fight her beloved Hayate. Yuugao's heart was cleaved in two when she clashed swords with him, but the thought of the thought of the daughter they had left behind made her move. She remembered the child's sweet voice, and the questions she always asked about her father. The child's dark hair that she inherited from Hayate, and of the eyes she had inherited from Yuugao, echoed in the mother's mind. _I will do this for you, Yuuzuki! _Hayate's consciousness was slipping away, the horror and despair in his voice almost caused Yuugao to call out to him. But she had to kill him instead.

"We have a daughter, Hayate." She saw the face she had loved for long widened his eyes in shock. Yuugao didn't heed the tears weeping out of her eyes. "She looks just like you...with my eyes. Every time when she sees your sword hanging on the wall, she says she's one day going to be a hero like you!" The tears in her eyes almost blinded her from seeing Hayate's own tears flowing down his face. She kissed them away. _"Nakanai de, _Hayate." Yuugao cradled his head in her hands, and felt something within him melting away. She gasped, realizing that his body was breaking away.

"What is her name?" The tenderness and love oozing out of Hayate's voice caused Yuugao to smile.

"Gekko Yuuzuki." Hayate's body was withering away. Even so, Yuugao could see his smile that she loved.

"Gentle moon," he murmured. "A beautiful name." Hayate closed his eyes and smiled, seeing what Yuugao was seeing. Their daughter's face._ "Aishiteru_…Yuugao."

All that remained was a body of an Iwagakure shinobi. _"Aishiteru_, Hayate." Tears were running down Yuugao's face, and she paid no heed to her comrades calling to her with the Sealing Corps. _Yuuzuki loves you too. _


End file.
